US Warns Turkey to Back Off Threats, Accusations Over Coup

Since a failed military coup last month, US relations with Turkey have been worsening consistently, with the Erdogan government harshly criticizing the Obama Administration at every chance, variously accusing the US of not being supportive enough and at times accusing the US of being secretly behind the coup.

Along with the Woodrow Wilson Center and US generals, Turkish officials have also accused Gulen of being behind the coup, and have demanded his immediate extradition. They’ve dispatched requests for extradition, but little to no evidence of Gulen’s involvement.

And that’s become a huge issue, as the US appears unwilling to extradite Gulen outside of the traditional extradition hearing avenue, and Turkish officials have acted baffled at this, insisting that their status as a US ally means the White House ought to take their word for it and hand over Gulen, and whoever else, no question asked.

I don’t think so. Erdogan went to St Petersburg looking to either restore economic relations with Russia or to frighten the Europeans into making even more economic concessions to Turkey or both. But other than admitting to the Russians that the Russian warplane was in Syrian airspace and not Turkish airspace when it was showdown Erdogan offered Putin and Russia little else. John Helmer of “Dances with Bears” called Erdogan visit a “charade”, and I agree.

When Afghanistan asked the US for proof of Bin Laden’s involvement in 9-11, we gave them none, and invaded instead. Now we want “proof” of Gulen’s involvement? Another case of hypocrisy and “do as we say, not as we do”.

Being democratically elected doesn’t stop the monsters in the U.S. from overthrowing you. Just ask Ukraine. The only difference is official Washington uses proxies like the think tanks and cia contractors for plausible deniability kind of like how the clintons use their Clinton foundation for foreign favors.